2013/14 Season Tip Off - cgalligan's Dynasty

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cgalligan's Dynasty Blog

2013/14 Season Tip Off

Posted on February 28, 2013 at 10:23 AM.

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Alright fellas, we're back in Business

I got my PS3 account back, I've got my Madden league restarted and now I've finally got some time to jump back into my favorite game of the year NBA 2k13...

Thank you for all the comments and thanks for following along with me as I try to bring my Cavaliers a championship... I hope you are all enjoying the read as much as I am playing through it all....

With that being said, here we go...

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NBA 2013-14 Season

It was a busy Off-Season for the Cavaliers and everyone else around the league... As you know the Lakers won the NBA Title defeating the Chicago Bulls in 6 games... The Championship was Dwight Howard's 1st and Kobe Bryant reached rarefied air capturing his 6th NBA Championship, which ties him with his child hood idol Michael Jordan...

After the Lakers win, the rest of the league got busy, shuffling players, working on contract extensions and thinking about what direction they wanted to take their team...

Here is a quick run down of some teams from around the league...

Derrick Rose wasn't 100% last Season, despite that, he was able to lead the Bulls all the way to the NBA Finals were they eventually lost to the Star studded LA Lakers in 6 games... This year, Rose and the Bulls look to once again be one of the Best teams in the Eastern Conference and I wouldn't be surprised to see them in the Finals once again... PF Taj Gibson signed a 4 year, $38m extension... It looks like Carlos Boozer could be on his way out

The Celtics GM Danny Ainge has openly said that if he were the GM of those aging 80's Celtic teams, he would have traded some of the legends like Larry Bird to build a young foundation... Well, here we are in 2013 and Ainge still hasn't pulled the trigger on a Paul Pierce or Kevin Garnet trade... Its no secret that these guys aren't the same players that they once were and the chances of them winning, together, in Boston are slim... It looks like the C's are going to give it one more go round though as the 36 year old Pierce and 37 year old Garnett are still on the roster...

The resigning of PF Josh Smith to a 5 year $70m contract means that the Hawks are going to sink or swim with Smith going forward... Smith and Horford forms one of the best front court tandems in the NBA... The additions of SF Terrance Williams and SG Nick Young should give the Hawks some much needed depth off the bench... Is this finally the year they make a deep run in the Playoffs?

The Clippers had a somewhat dissapointing 2012-13 Season... They finished with the 5th seed in the Western Conference and were quickly eliminated by the Thunder in the 1st round of the playoffs... The key to the entire off-season was resigning PG Chris Paul, doing so however limited them in what they were able to do in Free Agency... 1st round pick SG Ben McClemore from Kansas will be asked to contribute right away off the bench with scoring machine Jamal Crawford... We'll see if this years Clippers are better then last, but, I'm just not seeing it... Despite being fun to watch, they seem to get out of sync in a half court game...

The #1 seed in the Eastern Conference and the Best Record in the NBA Last Season, the Heat were stunned in the 2nd round by an up and coming 76'ers team... Its been well documented that the Heat may not be able to keep the Big 3 of Wade, Bosh and James together for very long because of the new collective bargaining agreement and salary cap restrictions... There is alright grumbling from around the league that LeBron isn't as happy in Miami as many thought he would be... In a contract year, who knows whats going to happen with the King... One thing is for certain though, this year, the Heat are still the team to beat and I expect nothing less than a trip to the NBA Finals for this group...

After drafting Anthony Davis in the 2012 NBA Draft, the Hornets followed that up with the selection of PF Nerlens Noel from Kentucky might have come to a surpise to many, but, you can't argue that Noel and Davis give the Hornets one of the most intimidating front court in the NBA... With Eric Gordon at the SG and Austin Rivers coming into his own the Hornets could surprise some teams this year.

The Jazz are a team that also has some great front-court players... They were able to re-sign PF Paul Milsap in the off-season and teaming him up with C Al Jefferson seems like a good idea... However, there is one extremely talented player that seems to be on the Outside looking in in Utah... 22 year old PF Derrick Favors can't seem to find any playing time and word out of Utah is he is very unhappy about his role with the team... A player of Favor's talents would garner allot of attention on the trade market, and, with him entering his contract year, I'd look for him to be traded near the trade Deadline...

The New York Knicks finished with the 5th seed in the Eastern Conference last year... They were eliminated quickly in the 1st round and they really didn't do much in the off-season to improve their roster... PG Jason Kidd retired and they lost the majority of their bench scoring when JR Smith decided to sign with the Bobcats... The Knicks will start Raymond Felton at the point and Iman Shumpert at the SG this year... Regardless of who the PG is, this team is going to go as far as Carmelo Anthony takes them...

The World Champion Lakers appear to be in a bit of trouble entering the 2013 Season... PG Steve Nash retired after the Parade in Downtown LA and now the Lakers only point gaurds on the roster are Steve Blake, Chris Duhon and Rookie Lorenzo Brown from NC State... Kobe Bryant is now 35 years old, Metta World Peace is 33 and this team is getting old quickly... With Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard, you can't argue the fact that the Lakers will have an advantage over nearly everyone they play, the question is can the young Point Guards run the show or will they need to make a move...

One of the biggest names on the Free Agent Market was SF Andre Iguadala... Nobody was really sure where he would land, but, he seems to have found a home in Dallas... A brand new 4 year $55m contract would make anyone happy, but, playing along side future Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki will make you even happier... Darren Collison, OJ Mayo, Iggy and Dirk form a very solid team with a great mix of young athleticism and veteran leadership... I look for this team to push the Thunder and the Lakers in the West as Dirk nears the end of his great career...

You've got to think this will be Tim Duncan's "last ride" as the 37 year old enters his 17th NBA Season... His contract will expire after this Season and although his numbers are still pretty good averaging 18 and 9 last year, I can't see the Spurs extending his deal... The Spurs also lost Manu Ginobli in FA as he signed with the 76'ers... With Parker and Duncan reaching the end, I think the Spurs could have one more push in them, but, in the end I just can't see this team competing with the youngsters of OKC or the Clippers in the Western Conference.

This team just keeps getting better and better... Every year Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook improve their game in some way and they Front Office just continues to hit home runs in the draft and the moves that they make... The trade of James Harden was criticized by sum, but then, SG Kevin Martin stepped right in and average 18 points per game... SG Jeremy Lamb is improving quickly and PF Perry Jones, who was one of the most athletic players in the draft in 2012 is just waiting for his turn on the Thunder bench... This team is the deepest team in the league and I think this is the year they go all the way...

The T'Wolves shocked the NBA World last year, coming out of nowhere and taking the #1 seed in the western conference... They were taught a valuable lesson however in the playoffs as the Veteran Savy Spurs took them out in the 1st round... This team is refocused coming into this year and they had very little roster turnover from that team of last year... Can they take that next step?

So there you have it... I didn't break down every team, but I broke down pretty much all of the teams that I felt would be important to all of you

I hope you enjoyed the read... Stay tuned as I'm going to give an overview of my Cavaliers Busy Off-Season and tell you how we're doing about 1/3 of the way through the 2013-14 Season...